


Running in the rain

by kikibug13



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-24
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-14 02:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikibug13/pseuds/kikibug13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline comes in to find aged Bonnie on the floor of her bedroom after she had a stroke. Getting her to the hospital makes the vampire think of so many things of the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running in the rain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [torigates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/gifts).



> This may be a trifle rushed, but I hope it's at least a little bit along what you had in mind. Merry Christmas!

Caroline kicked the door in.

She had long ago been invited into the house, that was not a problem. The fact that her best friend in the entire world had called her and then in the middle of the sentence had fallen silent and then wouldn't answer? And that she had been knocking and ringing for the last half hour, and all the windows were closed and Bonnie's car was in the garage? _That_ was a problem.

Her worry prove justified, too, when she reached the second floor and saw her friend in a heap on the bedroom floor. She could smell and hear, both senses keen enough, that Bonnie was alive, if barely. Caroline was by her side in a blink, noting the way her friend was twitching, uncontrolled, and the little trail of drool from the corner of her mouth to the wet spot on the floor. At least it was just drool, no blood in it. That had to be good, right?

"Hold on, Bonnie. I've got you."

If there was a conscious reaction to her words, Caroline couldn't discern it. That wasn't good. Definitely wasn't good.

She could call an ambulance, but the wet road would slow it down. How much time had Caroline wasted for Bonnie, getting here? Could she afford to waste more, waiting for that?

_No._

Her car would have the same problem, she realized.

_Well. Good thing it isn't the fastest thing around._

She dug into the coats closet until she dug out an old raincoat she remembered (it looked older than safe to use, but was still not thrown away. The blonde could guess why, the memory of a rainbow watched together fresh in her mind - had it been that long ago?) and draped it so the hood would keep water from Bonnie's face. Then she picked her friend up, one arm behind her knees and the other behind her neck, and started running.

Both were soaked through when she crossed the threshold of the hospital, but Bonnie was still clinging onto life, breaths labored and heavy under the makeshift cover for her face.

"Ma'am?" the receptionist was looking startled; he probably would have been more surprised if he knew how _far_ the woman before her had carried her friend, or if Bonnie was as fleshed out as she had once been. But age had hollowed her out, shrunk her.

"Which way to the ER?"

"Th-there," he pointed, and Caroline stumbled in that direction.

Almost quickly enough to satisfy her worry, she was relieved of her burden and there was a small flurry of people in scrubs taking care of Bonnie. She sat in the waiting room, straining to hear through the closed doors. Or rather, to make sense of what she was hearing. That part wasn't working. Dammit. She shook some of the water from her hair and sat, very still, waiting for more specific news.

"Ma'am?"

"Yes? How is she?"

"Are you..." The young doctor looked her up and down, then glanced towards the operations room, trying to put together the stunning blonde and the dark-skinned, silver-haired woman inside. "You're not next of kin. Can you contact her next of kin? We need permission for operating."

"I'm her best friend, I should--"

"We really need next of kin."

"I'll call her daughter. What's wrong with Bonnie?"

"She suffered a stroke, but," he raised a hand to try and calm down her reaction, "she's alive, and there is a chance we will be able to keep that so. Please, we need the permission, though."

"I will... right away. Do you need some... insurance information, stuff like that?"

"Yes, but--"

"The permission first. Okay, just a moment."

Lucy was asleep when she called.

Caroline could remember that she had been the first time she managed to hold her. Bonnie had been so happy, glowing, if exhausted. The smell of blood was still strong in the hospital room, under the chemicals. And Caroline was happy, so very happy for her friend, even with the sting that this was something she could never have twanging in her heart. This wasn't about her.

The problem had been that the baby was so full of life, its blood singing in the room with each motion, that Caroline didn't trust herself to be within a few feet of her at first. She couldn't, _couldn't_ hurt Bonnie's daughter. No matter what, and this wasn't a question of Bonnie's principles, this was all Caroline's own. It turned out easier when sleep brought a warm stillness to the infant. Caroline could still remember Bonnie's exact smile, when she'd first picked up Lucy. Would she see any smile of her friend's again? Even if they kept her alive, would Bonnie be able to communicate that much? Strokes were bad, very bad...

That all took a blink's time to go through her head, while Lucy was clearing her throat and probably blinking herself awake. "Yes?"

"Lucy? It's Caroline. Your mother needs you."

"What's happened?"

"At the hospital. Please, hurry."

"... I'm coming."

Lucy didn't ask what it was in particular and Caroline was grateful for that. Explaining what she had little information about wasn't something she wanted to waste her time on.

"There." She flipped her phone closed and looked at the doctor. "She's on her way. What can I do to speed things up?" Besides getting the room empty and giving Bonnie some of her blood. Why hadn't she thought about that earlier? Other than Bonnie's still-strong dislike for vampires...

But it had been Bonnie who'd made Damon give _Caroline_ his blood to heal her back in school, hadn't it?

_God. What do I do?_

"There are forms..." the doctor was saying.

"Show me."

She could to paperwork. Since they wouldn't let her in with Bonnie. It was still doing something, right?

She was crying. As her pen was flying over the forms - much faster than any human could write, as soon as nobody was looking at her - her mind took her back to some of the times together. Sleepovers in school. Bonnie helping her deal with her parents. Bonnie's hatred after she'd turned. The night when she'd mellowed, finally, and given her unconditional support. The morning when Bonnie had showed up on her doorstep, hurt and betrayed and all used up from her magicks, and had curled into Caroline like a crying child and shivered herself asleep before she gave one word of explanation. The wedding, she had looked so beautiful in white. The first wrinkles and the shock they had been to Caroline, and how Bonnie had laughed them off, gangling her child on her knee.

And so much more.

When she was done with the forms, Caroline hid her face in her hands for a moment, then dug out her phone again. "Stefan?"

"Caroline?" Beat. "What's wrong?"

"How... how do you deal when they die?"

"What's happened, Caroline?"

"Nothing. I don't know. Maybe nothing yet. Bonnie's in the hospital."

"Hold on, I'll be there and we'll talk."

"Okay."

"Caroline?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't do anything stupid."

She growled at him and could hear his sigh. "I'm already driving down. Hold on."

"Okay."

Disconnect.

And then there was pacing in the waiting room. Hoping. She couldn't lose her now. Not yet.

They had to watch the rainbow again, one day.


End file.
